Unwanted Dreams
by Sokerchick
Summary: Harm's nightmares are keeping him awake, but so is this case. Casefic.
1. Chapter 1

I turned quickly to look as someone burst through the doors of the church. There he was… Mic Brumby. Standing with a gun in his hand. I turned and looked at the woman who I had just finished making my vows to. Her brown eyes sparkled in anger, and my gaze connected with hers for an instant. Then the first shot rang out, and she fell. I started to reach for her, but just as my hand touched her face there was the ear-shattering sound of another bullet leaving the chamber of the gun, and an excruciating pain ripping through my head.

Lieutenant Commander Harmon Rabb sat bolt upright with sweat pouring down his face, back, and chest. _That's the third time this week_. He thought dimly about the dream. Unable to fall back to sleep he crawled out of bed and went to go make himself a cup of coffee. Glancing at the clock as he got up he saw that it read only 2:27.

As he poured the steaming coffee into his mug a sudden chill shook him, and he almost dropped his scalding load. As it was, it spilled everywhere. Downing the millimeter left in the bottom of the cup, he picked up a rag and started to clean it up.

**JAG Headquarters**

**Falls Church, VA**

0800 EST 

"Hey Harm, you OK?" Rabb was startled out of his thoughts by the familiar voice of Major Sarah Mackenzie. "Harm?" Concern flooded her voice.

"Huh, Oh yeah sorry."

"Comon' were gonna be late, the Admiral wants to see us."

"OK sure"

The two made their way through the bullpen and over into the Office of Admiral AJ Chegwidin. Petty Officer Tiner announced their entrance and closed the door behind them.

"Please have a seat. Good, now I assume you two have heard about the serial killer stalking the base at Little Creek in Norfolk." Receiving nods from both officers Chegwidin plunged on. "Good, because you two will be sent out to do the investigation. Any questions?"

"Sir," Rabb inquired, "will we be allowed to take Bud on this one, we will need all the help we can get."

"A good question Commander, but no. Bud and Harriet will both remain here to hold down the fort. With Brumby going back to Australia, " The uncontrolled shiver that ran through Harm was not missed by either of the other officers in the room, but neither made a comment. " And you two out on the investigation I can not, and will not spare any more people. If you need his help I am sure he would be willing to help you over the phone. Dismissed"

With that both officers rose and turned to leave. "Commander, may I speak to you"

"Certainly sir."

"Commander, are you alright?"

"Of course sir."

"Commander, I am your CO, and I need you to tell me what's going on."

"Sir, I'm fine. I just haven't been sleeping lately."

"Are you up to this investigation? If not I can send Imes with the Major."

"No sir really I'm fine."

"If there's something more and it effects your work…"

"Sir, really I am perfectly healthy."

"Good." The Admiral said not quite believing it himself. "Go pack and have the Major do the same. I want the two of you out of here as soon as possible, so that people stop dying, am I clear." 

"Crystal Sir."

"Dismissed"

**Rabb's Apartment  
North of Union Station  
1000 EST**

"Harm are you almost ready!?" Mac called out impatiently.

"Comon' I've only had an hour to pack."

"And I thought that women were supposed to take a long time packing. I even had time to pick up the car. It's sitting in the alley or whatever you call where you park your car."

"Here I am."

"Good lets go."

**On the Road  
1100 EST**

Mac looked over at her partner who was sitting in the passenger seat resting fitfully. _It's the middle of the day and he's sleeping_. Mac had never known Harm to sleep during the day and started to wonder what was going on with him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek  
Norfolk, VA  
1130 EST**

"Hey sleepy head."

Harm groggily returned to the living, and ran a hand through his hair. "Let's' go."

The two officers found the main building at the base and entered. Looking around quickly they found an Ensign walking hurriedly somewhere. "Excuse me." 

Startled the young woman turned around quickly, noticing the rank on the two officers, she stood stiffly at attention.

"Relax, we would just like to know where Admiral Kline's office is located he is expecting us." Harm smiled as he remembered being that nervous when he had been a young officer.

Noticeably relaxing the Ensign gave them directions to the office, which was just around the corner. Harm and Mac smiled and thanked the woman then went to find Admiral Kline.

"Sir." The two officers stood at attention in front of the mahogany desk of Admiral Kline. The man looked to be in his late forties to early fifties.

"Have a seat. As I understand the two of you are the best pair of investigators at JAG. Hopefully you will be able to solve the problem that we have been having so that the men and woman on this base can sleep at night."

"Yes Sir." Mac stated.

"Good. Now here is the file. It contains pictures of all six of the victims, the crime scenes, and also a list of witnesses that I was able to pry from the police before they turned jurisdiction over to you."

"Thank you sir. This will help greatly in our investigation."

"Now I want you out that door and I want this killer found yesterday."

Both people stood and saluted then left.

Out in the hall Mac turned to Harm who held the manila envelope in his grasp. "Lets go look at the pictures, while we drive over to the temporary housing complex."

Harm nodded an agreement as he stepped into the passenger side of the car.

**Temporary Housing Complex  
Little Creek Base  
1155 EST**

Harm looked around the room. The small set of rooms that he and Mac would be sharing was modest, but comfortable. It was usually used for families of sailors, and marines that came to visit for a couple of days. There was one bedroom (but two beds), a bathroom, something that could barely pass as a kitchen (all it had was a 18'' cooler of the kind they put in hotels, and a sink) and a kind of family room with a couch a chair a low coffee table and a TV.

Harm and Mac settled side by side on the couch to look at the pictures. Setting the folder and its contents on the table they leaned over to closely examine the information at hand. There were three pictures on top of the pile. Each looked almost identical to each other. There were two victims in each picture, a man and a woman. The woman had a line across the throat drawn by a knife and the man in each had been carefully gutted and cleaned like a deer in the field. But the other thing that Mac noticed was, despite the obvious injury to both they were bruised and battered. She filed that information away for later use.

Together the two looked over the other information and pictures carefully, each trying desperately to keep from vomiting. They had seen some pretty bad things, but nothing this deliberate, this gruesome.

After looking over the pitifully short witness list Harm and Mac decided to go out to grab something to eat.

**Macdonald's  
Norfolk, VA  
1245 EST**

Harm and Mac stepped out of the car, Harm still complaining about the choice of restaurant.

"Get over it you big baby." Mac teased. "It will be good for you to get a little fat on your bones."

Harm smiled, the earlier weariness seeming to dissipate. "Hey it's not my fault that grease burgers are so disgusting, otherwise I would eat them all the time and weigh 400 pounds."

Shaking her head she entered the restaurant.

**Just Outside the Macdonald's  
1245 EST**

He watched from his car parked not 20 feet from where the two officers were standing. As he watched them go in he thought how unfair it was. His partner was gone, so no one could have a partner.

**Crime Scene of First Victims  
Little Creek Base  
1330 EST**

The killer had struck on base. That said something either for his boldness or for his stupidity. The pair of officers had apparently been walking back to the women's barrack more than likely to drop off the woman and then have the man go to his own bunk, but they couldn't rule out a romantic involvement with any of the victims.

"Why don't we check with the friends of these people and find out what kind of relationship they had with each other." Harm stated. 

"Sure. But we won't be able to find anyone until they all come in this evening. We'll have to wait a while."

"Hey, not a problem we can check out the list of suspects and get Bud to do checks on them."

"Good idea."

**Temporary Housing Complex  
Little Creek Base  
1411 EST**

"Hey Bud."

"Hello sir" The voice in the receiver replied.

"How are you holdin' down the fort?"

"Pretty well sir. I'm in court tomorrow on a drunk and disorderly, persecution."

"Go get 'em. Hey Bud, I have a favor to ask of you. Would you mind running a background check on the following people? Tim Hawkins…

"I think that I heard that name somewhere, the news maybe."

"Why would he be on the news?"

"I think that something happened to him or, I can't remember, but I'll try to find out for you."

"Good. Now the other two are. Alicia Milbourne, and Jon Hancock."

"Is that it sir?" 

"For now Bud."

"I'll get right on it sir. How _is_ the investigation coming sir?"

"We don't have much yet, but it's only the first day."

"Alright. Good-bye and good luck sir. And tell the Major I said hi."

"Will do Bud."

Hanging up the receiver. Harm turned towards his partner "Bud said hi."

Mac smiled at the thought of the young man. "Well, we have three choices. We can wait around until Bud calls back with the information which may take a while, we can sit around and wait for the people to get back to the cafeteria for chow time, or we can go back to the crime scene and check it out one more time. So what will it be?"

The fatigue and weariness that plagued her partner on the ride up passed over his face again. "Well the crime scene isn't going anywhere so lets just relax."

"Fine with me, but I think later I might look at the scene just so that I have a better idea of what we are looking for. Hey Harm, are you sure that you are alright, you look really tired, maybe you should go lie down."

"Yeah, I guess I will since I have some time to burn."


	3. Chapter 3

**Crime Scene of First Victims  
Little Creek Base  
1606 EST**

Mac had left Harm fitfully dozing about an hour ago. She had come to look at the scene of the crime, but was having a hard time concentrating. She knew Harm wasn't telling her the whole story, but what was she going to do. Harm was an adult and if he didn't want to tell her something that was his prerogative.

The only problem was that it hurt. Harm and Mac had been open with each other since the first day they met in the rose garden, and now for him to conceal something that effected him this much. Well it just hurt Mac that her best friend couldn't be open with her.

Suddenly Mac got a sudden chill up her spine. It was the same feeling that she had when that crazy police officer had been stalking her. Someone was watching her. Trying to pretend not to notice, and failing miserably Mac tried to scan the surrounding area without looking too obvious.

The feeling refused to leave so she decided to get away from the eyes. Getting in the JAG issue car she drove to the other end of the base where the temporary housing complex was located.

**Near First Crime Scene  
Little Creek Base  
1610 EST**

How the hell could she have seen him. He couldn't figure it out. _Oh well_ he thought _I guess I'll just have to be more cautious from now on._

**Temporary Housing Complex  
Little Creek Base  
1614 EST  
**

Mac entered the small 'apartment' that she and her partner were sharing. Walking quietly so as not to wake up her sleeping partner she went to go sit on the couch. She was startled when she sat on something warm that gave. Not to mention the exclamation of surprise that came out of it.

"Geeze Harm how did you get there?"

"I got up when I heard you leave. So did you find anything new?"

"Huh, Oh um… no."

"Well the people should start to file into the cafeteria pretty soon. I guess we each have enough time for a shower and a quick change."

"Yeah sure whatever."

Mac seemed really distant. "You OK?"

"Yeah just fine."

**Cafeteria  
Little Creek Base  
1702 EST**

They had arrived a little late for the beginning of dinner, which started at 5 and ended at 8. The reason for the long time was that people came in and out all the time, and there was no way to coordinate everything.

Surveying the room Mac spotted a young Lieutenant j.g. and flagged him down. "Excuse me, but can you point out an Alicia Milbourne, and Jon Hancock"

"Yes Ma'am. They are the two over in the corner by themselves. They have been over there ever since everything started."

"Thank you."

"No problem at all Ma'am. Sir."

Harm and Mac made their way over to the two young officers. One was a Lieutenant and the other was a Lieutenant Commander like Harm.

"Excuse me." Harm said trying not to piss anyone off "but we were wondering…"

"What we saw." The male Lieutenant said.

"This may suck but you still treat superior officers with respect."

"Yes Ma'am." The man mumbled in return.

"Sorry about him, but he is really worked up over this."

"It's OK. We are the two people from Jag. I'm Lieutenant Commander Harmon Rabb, and this is Major Mackenzie. We would like to ask you a few questions."

"Well Lieutenant Commander Harmon Rabb, fire away." The woman said sarcastically.

"But Ma'am you just said…"

"He's not my superior officer."

"Yes Ma'am" the young man replied meekly.

"Well Lieutenant what did you see that you were considered a witness."

"Well Sir. Ma'am. I didn't really _see_ anything. I was the last one to talk to the third pair of victims. Lieutenant j.g. Jess Green and Lieutenant j.g. Jordan Cicola. We were all at a bar just outside the base. It's the place everyone goes so there were at least 45 service men there that night. Each of us had at least two beers, but Jess downed more than that. She just got news that her husband was divorcing her and that he was going to try for custody of their kids."

"Wait," Mac interrupted "She had a family?"

"Yeah." But a glare from the woman sitting across from him and he restated his answer as a 'yes ma'am.'

"That wasn't said in the report."

"Mac, you know that they don't always tell us this kind of stuff."

"Continue." She growled.

"Sorry Ma'am. Well any way. Jess was pretty well drunk and so Jordan said that he was going to walk her back to the woman's barracks so that she could get some sleep."

"About what time was it that they left the bar?" Mac asked.

"Well I guess it must have been somewhere around 2200."

"Only ten o'clock?" Harm inquired.

"Yes sir. She got news during dinner and left the mess hall right after she got word. So she had plenty of time to go get drunk." At another glare from the Lieutenant Commander sitting across from him he corrected by saying, "Er… Um… I mean that she had plenty of time to a go to the bar and have a few drinks. She would have gone alone if Jordan hadn't seen her and talked her into waiting for us."

"Was there a romantic relationship between the two j.g.'s?"

"Well no sir. They were just partners and best friends."

"Partners?" Mac took over the questioning.

"Yes Ma'am. They worked together daily."

"Thank you. Now Commander what exactly was it that you saw?"

"Well, I guess you could say that I was the one who saw the first two people die, but all I saw was a man with a knife, going after two marine recruits. When I saw that I ran to the nearest phone and called the MPs. By the time they got there the pair was dead. I didn't even know them."

"Why didn't you try to help them." By now Mac was angry. She couldn't believe that a navy Lieutenant Commander could abandon two marines to die.

"What could I do? The two people were on the ground and the guy had a knife. What did you want me to do? Run into a situation that I knew nothing about. The guy could have had back up. He could have killed me. I did the only thing that I was sure that I could do, and that was call the MP's."

Mac was about to scream at the woman to tell her that she was an officer and someone who should be willing to help people, but there was Harm. He gently placed a restring hand on her shoulder. "Thank you, Commander, Lieutenant. Don't go anywhere we might have to talk to you later."

"Sure."

Irritated Mac got up and Harm followed her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Temporary Housing Complex  
Little Creek Base  
1814 EST  
**

"Hey Harm, I think I'm gonna go hit the sack."

"Sounds like a good idea to me."

The two officers crawled into their respective beds. Mac fell asleep instantly, but Harm, who had been napping was not tired. As he lay in bed he thought about his partner. _What the heck is up with her?_ _When she came back from the crime scene she acted as if she had seen a ghost. Then she blew up during the interview. She has almost always kept her cool before. _As Harm drifted off to sleep his partner lay in the bed across from him.

Mac couldn't decide weather it was a dream or if it was real. There he was again. His eyes followed her every mood. He whispered Dalton's last words in her ear. Then there was the alcohol. He had poured it down her throat. No, she wanted to scream, but every time she opened her mouth there was the taste of alcohol.

Mac opened her eyes and stared straight up at the ceiling. It had just been a dream. It was just the feeling of those eyes on her had brought back all of the memories. But Harm had saved her. Rolling up onto her left side she looked over at her partner who seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

Harm's dreams were anything but peaceful. After a few minutes of watching, she saw the features on his face grow taught. Suddenly without warning he screamed. It was incoherent at best, but it sounded almost like he was screaming 'NO.' Quietly Mac slipped out of bed and kneeled next to him. Placing a reassuring hand on his forehead she whispered to him. She told him that it was Ok everything would be all right. Surprisingly it seemed to work. Disturbed by her partner's dreams Mac went outside to think.

The cool air always helped her think, but this time there was something different. She could feel the eyes on her again.

**  
Temporary Housing Complex  
Little Creek Base  
0745 EST**

"Hey Harm, Got any ideas for breakfast?"

"We could go out." He said as he came out of the bedroom straightening, and smoothing out the shirt of his tan uniform. Mac could see the fatigue in his eyes.

"I'm sick of going out. We go out all the time." Mac's own nightmares had kept her up and she too was exhausted.

"Want to go the mess hall?"

"Sure, why not."

**  
Cafeteria   
Little Creek Base  
0803 EST**

Harm and Mac were well known as being the Jag officers that had come to do the investigation. As such Many people looked their way and nodded, or told them to wrap it up fast. But the fact that they were lawyers freaked out a lot of the personnel on base. As a result they were left pretty much alone while they ate a light breakfast. Their quiet conversation started about the case.

"So who do you think is the one doing this?" Mac asked.

"I don't know yet. If Bud could get those reports back to us we could try to check out other leads through this Tim Hawkins guy."

"Maybe."

"So what about you? Who do you think is the killer?"

"I haven't the slightest idea."

"Hey Mac, are you all right? I know I asked yesterday, but you seem really zoned out. Are you getting enough sleep?"

"Look," she yelled at him as she abruptly stood up. "I could ask you the same question. So don't even start with me." With that she stalked out of the room.

Embarrassed by his partners sudden outrage Harm got up to follow her, leaving the eyes of the people in the mess hall to follow him out.

Once outside Harm had to jog to catch up to Mac. "Mac, what the heck did I say to piss you off this much?"

"Look Harm I think it would be best if we just finish our investigation and get the hell out of here OK."

"Whatever you say, but we need to find that last witness first."

"Fine. Where do we start."

"Before we do that, I need to know what I said to piss you off so badly. What's up?"

"Look, I just haven't been sleeping well OK."

"Tell me about it." Harm murmured under his breath.

"Lets go find this guy and go."

**Just Outside Cafeteria  
Little Creek Base  
0832 EST**

The two officers came out of the base and talked quietly. As they left he leaned against the building. _Today is a great day to kill._ He thought silently.

**  
Temporary Housing Complex  
Little Creek Base  
2227 EST**

It had been a long and hard day. Even though they had spent the whole day looking Mac and Harm had been unable to find the mysterious Tim Hawkins.

Just as Harm went to sit down on the couch his cell phone rang. He walked into the bedroom where it was sitting on the table. Picking it up he stated "Rabb" into the receiver.

"Hello Commander."

"Oh, hey Bud. How's the office, are you holdin' down the fort without us?" 

"Fine sir. I got the reports and background checks you wanted on those three officers. Lieutenant and the Commander have impeccable service records. But the Marine, Tim Hawkins he just lost a partner in some freak training accident. Apparently they were training and the zodiac they were in flipped and the motor killed her. After that he flipped out. He was going to see a psychiatrist, but never got around to it."

"What happened?"

"I don't know sir."

"Well find out. Good work Bud."

"Thank you sir."

Hanging up the phone Harm went into the family room to relay the information to Mac. When he went in he was surprised to find a Caucasian male, about 6'2" standing behind her and holding a knife to her throat.

Without having to look at the nametag pinned to the front of the man's cammies he said "Hawkins.

Still holding the knife to Mac's throat he sketched a formal bow. "At your service, or rather you are at mine."

It was at that point that Harm noticed the fact that Mac had her hands tied behind her back. "Come over here." The man said in his unusually deep voice. "Faster." He barked at Harm.

Throwing Mac on the couch he quickly tied Harm's hands behind his back.

"Why are you doing this?" Harm asked.

"Why…Why…You want to know WHY? I'll tell you why. Revenge. G-d let my partner die in front of me, and now it's your turn. Or rather hers. I want to let a woman know how I felt as my partner was ripped to shreds in front of my eyes. And I want her last view of this world to be of my face and your empty chest cavity. I want to make you scream until your throat goes raw, and I want to have her scream for you. I want to see your face contorted in pain and I want hers twisted in the agony that I had the day Julie was taken from me. That is why, that is what I want."

By that point he had already made Harm lay on is back. Harm (whose feet at this point were also tied) lay there not moving and only the trickle of sweat running from his temple down to his chin gave away his fear.

Slowly he traced the knife over Harm's stomach. "It's like getting your ears pierced, just close your eyes and the pain will be gone in seconds. Oh wait no it won't. It will last for an eternity." Smiling he plunged the knife into Harm's stomach and dragged it down to his pelvis, making a long, deep incision.

Mac had only ever heard Harm scream like that once and that was in his dreams. "Harm." She screamed for him, for his pain, and for the fact that she couldn't do anything.

Mac had never been so angry in her entire life. All she wanted to do was kill the man who was hurting Harm. Without even realizing it she had bowled the man over. Without the use of her hands it was hard to fight, but rage fueled her every movement.

Brutally she kicked the knife away from him and continued to kick him, until he lay unconscious and bleeding.

Wriggling her way over to her barely conscious partner she started to whisper to him. "It's ok, you'll be just fine. No one will hurt you."

Before she knew it men surrounded her. They were MPs who had heard their screams. Quickly an ambulance was called. As the paramedics arrived and rushed Harm away the MPs took Tim Hawkins to the brig.

**Hospital Near Base  
Norfolk, VA  
2400 EST**

"How are you?" Mac looked up into the concerned face of her CO Admiral Chegwidin.

"I'm fine, except for being completely exhausted. Harm is still up in surgery." She replied to the unanswered question in the man's eyes. "Where are Bud and Harriet?"

"On their way. I got word before them, and after I told them I was out the door. They are probably about 15 minutes behind me."

"Oh."

"Major are you positively sure that you are alright?"

"Fine sir, it's just…I can't wait around any longer, it's driving me nuts. I have to go and see how he is."

"Excuse me."

Mac looked up expectantly at the sound of the doctor's voice.

"You are the one who came in with…" Glancing at the chart for the name, "Harmon Rabb Jr.?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"He'll be fine, but we have to keep him in the hospital for at least a week and a half to make sure that he is healing well. He is upstairs in the ICU, but we have made special arrangements for you because he is awake. Normally family is not allowed up there."

"Thank you so much." Nodding to the Admiral she followed the young doctor up to the ICU.

"Hey flyboy." She whispered to him as she sat down.

"Blood," he rasped as he looked at the front of her shirt. "Were you hurt?"

"No it's yours."

"Oh, sorry I spilled on you."

He was rewarded with a smile that seemed to light up the room.

"How are you feeling?"

"Great, I don't think I'll be having any unwanted dreams for a while." Smiling Harm drifted off into sleep as his hand slipped into her hand.

**Fin**


End file.
